Chapter 10: Who Made the Call
Emma asked Diane Cho for forty-eight hours.
Diane said she had twenty-four.
There were other sources.
The story was going to run with or without Emma's comment.
When Emma ended the call, Ruth was already looking at her.
"Who called her?" Ruth said.
"I don't know."
"Adrian?"
Emma thought about it.
Adrian had given her the email.
He had told her about Gerald's attorneys.
He had been, from the first moment on the harbor promenade, consistently and carefully on her side.
She called him.
He answered on the first ring.
"Did you contact the Port Mercy Courier?" she asked.
A pause.
"No."
"Someone did.
A reporter named Diane Cho.
She has sources.
She says the story runs tomorrow regardless."
Silence on the line.
Then: "Tessa."
Emma went still.
"Tessa called the press?"
"She called Cole this morning," Adrian said.
"He told me.
She told him that if he sent you any kind of retraction letter, she would make sure everyone knew what he'd done.
She said she'd rather the story come out publicly than let him give you what you wanted quietly."
Emma sat down.
"She would burn him," Emma said, "to stop him from making it right with me."
"Yes."
"She'd rather he be publicly humiliated than—" Emma stopped.
"She thinks if there's a scandal, I won't want the retraction anymore.
She thinks I'll back away."
"That's my read," Adrian said.
Ruth was watching Emma's face.
"She doesn't know me very well," Emma said.
"No," Adrian said.
"She doesn't."
Emma thought for a moment.
"If the story runs tomorrow, what happens to Cole?"
"Depends on what Diane Cho has.
If she has the email, it's significant.
His name in the headline.
Marston Properties in the second paragraph.
My father will be furious." A pause.
"Cole will lose the property division.
Gerald will restructure.
He's been looking for a reason to bring in outside management for two years."
"And you get it."
"I don't want it," Adrian said.
"I want the shipping side.
I've always wanted the shipping side.
Cole knows that."
Emma believed him.
She wasn't entirely sure why, but she did.
"I'm going to call Diane Cho back," Emma said.
"I'm going to give her a comment."
"What kind of comment?"
"The kind that makes the story about Harborview and Bennett Coastal Group, not about the Marston family's personal life." She paused.
"Cole did something wrong professionally.
That's the story.
What happened in that hotel room is mine.
I'm not giving it to a newspaper."
Adrian was quiet for a moment.
"That's more generous than he deserves," he said.
"It's not for him," Emma said.
"It's for me."
She called Diane Cho back and gave her a careful, specific, professional statement about the Harborview withdrawal, the impact on Bennett Coastal Group, and the upcoming Friday meeting with Patrick Solis.
She confirmed the email existed.
She did not provide a copy.
She did not mention Tessa.
She did not mention the wedding.
The story ran the next morning.
Cole Marston's name was in the third paragraph.
May you like
Gerald called Emma at eight fifty-nine.
"The letter will be on your desk by noon," he said.
